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An open letter to the 2013 Reds

My brother posted this on his blog after today's loss.

Reds Have the Record, but don’t Have the Heart

It’s been over a year since I have blogged anything about the Reds, thanks to the shocks of an abysmal 2011 season and the disappointment of the 2012 NLDS against the San Francisco Giants. Now I find my beloved Reds again at the end of another season with the team holding the second National League Wild Card spot behind the team holding the first, the Pittsburgh Pirates. I feel like I am having déjà vu from 2012.
When the Reds appeared to have the Giants on the ropes in 2012, after the game 3 loss to San Francisco, I knew the team was done. I told fellow fans about my prediction that the series was over and the Reds would lose the series 3 games to 2. Like a witness to a car accident I was horrified to watch the event unfold. Whatever team that played at GABP last October was not the same team that played in San Francisco. These Reds played like they had the whole series wrapped up after winning just two straight. It was even worse watching post-game interviews after the game 5 defeat and seeing players like Joey Votto basically state that the team that wanted it more won (and eventually, won the World Series that season), was beyond frustrating.

I am seeing ghosts of that same team.

Fast forward to late September 2013 and we see the Reds in third place behind the Pirates. The Reds serendipitously, are in their final series of the year against this same Pirates club. Any dreams of an NL Central repeat championship went out with series losses to the Maligned Brewers and hapless Mets. The Reds must face the fact they will have to play a one-game Wild Card playoff game against the surprise Pirates. Regardless of the one-game playoff being the equivalent of the NCAA Final Four right-to-play-in-the-tounament game, this Reds team remembers nothing. They don’t remember how stark-raving, maddeningly hungry they were in 2010 to win the division and make it to the playoffs after a 15 year drought. They don’t remember to grind to the NL Central crown in 2012, only to let hubris and overconfidence beat them. News flash, Redlegs! The Pirates ARE the Reds of 2010! They are hungry to madness to bring playoff baseball back to Pittsburgh. Do you know how long it has been since the Pirates have smelled October baseball, Reds? Lee Greenwood was singing “God Bless the USA” and then Reds owner, Marge Schott was erroneously stating that Desert Storm participants were “…over there in South-East Asia.” That’s how long it has been. An entire cohort of Pirates fans have been born, grown and graduated college never knowing what it is to hear that the Pirates were going to the playoffs. I know, I have coworkers that fit this description.
What does this mean? It means Reds, you need to put these ‘Bucs down and down now. Remember your lesson from 2012. When the opponent is on his back, you keep him there and don’t let up until you hear the 3 count and the bell. If you get reversed, you fight like the nine-hells are on your back and put the opponent away, because they are fighting for themselves to stay in the playoffs. Most of all; when it does come to the Wild Card game, remember the most important lesson that you have over the Pirates. Act like you’ve been there before! Don’t blame the fans for your lack of heart or drive. We can’t get out on the field and play the game for you, otherwise we’d be paid your salary! I’m talking to you, Ryan Ludwig. I understand your frustration, but take it to your teammates, in the privacy of the club house to fire them up. If I were your boss, Walt Jocketty, I would hand you your release papers for comments like that. There are other Left Fielders that can do what you that can be signed or promoted to fill that void. Fans broke attendance records at GABP to support this club. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.
I have railed enough about this team. I’d like to see the now 40 of you prove me wrong. I’ve been a Reds fan all my life; even when the seasons were over in July. I’m going to let the faux pas slide, Mr. Ludwig, if you make me this deal along with the other 24 players that will travel to Pittsburgh on Monday: I promise to listen and follow every out while this team is in the playoffs, as long as you represent this city of Cincinnati for what it is, a hard-working town that doesn’t stand for bull****. We can smell lack of effort a mile away. You want to know what this town likes, Mr. Ludwig? It’s a guy with his fists clenched, sliding into a base head-first with grit in his teeth that plays with EVERY fiber of his being. You give us that, and we’ll sit through hell on gasoline soaked seats to watch you play ball.

Last edited by 90SeasonDreamin; 09-28-2013 at 10:32 PM.
Reason: Spelling

Likes:

Re: An open letter to the 2013 Reds

"There's no such thing as bad press as long as they spell your name right."

"No matter how good you are, you're going to lose one-third of your games. No matter how bad you are you're going to win one-third of your games. It's the other third that makes the difference." ~Tommy Lasorda

Re: An open letter to the 2013 Reds

So you have no problem with guys that don't even bother to slide or attempt to break up dp's or run all out on ground balls? We could use a couple Pete Rose/Ryan Freel type players on this team!

I could not care less about how hard someone runs out on a stinking ground ball unless they are a truly fast player where it actually could make a difference. On this team, that means Billy Hamilton and only Billy Hamilton.

I would like to see the entire possibility of breaking up a double play banned. Slide to the bag. If you don't, you are kicked out of the game. Quit placing players in the way of harm for no real reason. With that said, I don't recall any time where someone missed such a chance to break up a double play.

Not bothering to slide bothers me. But I also don't believe that it wasn't a situation where they just didn't bother to slide, but that they or someone else screwed up in reading the play.

Re: An open letter to the 2013 Reds

Originally Posted by dougdirt

I could not care less about how hard someone runs out on a stinking ground ball unless they are a truly fast player where it actually could make a difference. On this team, that means Billy Hamilton and only Billy Hamilton.

I would like to see the entire possibility of breaking up a double play banned. Slide to the bag. If you don't, you are kicked out of the game. Quit placing players in the way of harm for no real reason. With that said, I don't recall any time where someone missed such a chance to break up a double play.

Not bothering to slide bothers me. But I also don't believe that it wasn't a situation where they just didn't bother to slide, but that they or someone else screwed up in reading the play.

I wouldn't be too dismissive of that.

Pete Rose didn't have very good speed, obviously. However, as a percentage of non-hits by fielders, he reached on an error 2.8% of the time in his career. The league average during the 70s was 1.6%. That means he was reaching base close to double that of the league average. Furthermore, for the productive two thirds of his career he was an everyday player, his BABIP was around .330, which likely means he was beating out some infield hits.

Those extra errors and infield hits can add up over the course of a season. The mere fact you're running every play out can sometimes cause fielders to rush a throw when they otherwise wouldn't. Rose did that, which is a lot of the reason he reached on those extra errors.

"No matter how good you are, you're going to lose one-third of your games. No matter how bad you are you're going to win one-third of your games. It's the other third that makes the difference." ~Tommy Lasorda

Likes:

Re: An open letter to the 2013 Reds

Originally Posted by dougdirt

I could not care less about how hard someone runs out on a stinking ground ball unless they are a truly fast player where it actually could make a difference. On this team, that means Billy Hamilton and only Billy Hamilton.

I would like to see the entire possibility of breaking up a double play banned. Slide to the bag. If you don't, you are kicked out of the game. Quit placing players in the way of harm for no real reason. With that said, I don't recall any time where someone missed such a chance to break up a double play.

Not bothering to slide bothers me. But I also don't believe that it wasn't a situation where they just didn't bother to slide, but that they or someone else screwed up in reading the play.

So a slow or average speed guy could never beat out a ground ball? That is just flat Stupid!
I guess they should just walk back to the dougout after hitting an infield grounder...

Re: An open letter to the 2013 Reds

I believe the 'Open Letter is correct and well-expressed even with the mis-spelling. (Something I, and most likely, everyone here, has done at one time or another). It's classic internet behavior of those that don't have a reasonable argument to someone else's opinion to attack the OP's spelling errors.

I'm glad Mike Thierrry got a laugh out of this because I got a laugh out of Mike. You might remember him, he's the guy that made a big deal out of leaving Redszone. Apparently, he can't keep his word.

Re: An open letter to the 2013 Reds

ludwick was not happy with the crowd because it was so quiet! you can break attendance records all you want, that doesn´t mean that the place is loud!

I can´t be there but from what I see in TV and what I read online from fans, it is pretty quiet and very negative!

I was angry last year aswell and I was disappointed multiple times this season aswell, but you won´t find an mlb team without bad streaks, without stupid errors and without bad games against bad teams...

the biggest problem is that lots of fans had to high expectations. our pitching staff was great altough injury issues, our offense was a little bit worse than we can expect from them...

frazier, hanigan/mes, cozart, lf (after ludwick was hurt most of the season and isn´t up to speed yet), bench, and even brandon phillips are avg or below avg on their positions

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